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Traits and control of invasive mile-a-minute (Persicaria perfoliata) in western New York
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Amatangelo, Kathryn
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2023-09-13
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Invasive and nuisance species are recognized as a major threat to natural
ecosystems and a leading threat to biodiversity. Mile-a-minute, Persicaria perfoliata,
is an invasive species in North America and is native to Asia and the Philippines. It
was introduced in the United States in the late 1800s and has become a serious
invasive species in the eastern United States. Herbicides, biological control, and
mechanical control methods have been effective for controlling mile-a-minute, but
their relative efficacy is not known. I evaluated herbicide, mechanical and combined
treatments for mile-a-minute over three years at two sites. All methods were effective
at reducing mile-a-minute percent cover. Treatment type affected mile-a-minute
percent cover in the first year of my study, when the mechanical-only treatment was
less effective than herbicide treatments at the first resample. However, there were no
significant differences among treatments in the second or third year of the project. My
results indicate that mechanical, herbicide, or combined treatments can effectively
manage mile-a-minute. However, because germination continues through October
revisits are needed after initial treatment applications regardless of methods chosen. I
also found that there was inter-year variability in the phenology of mile-a-minute and
was an important indicator that control methods need to be applied before flowering
occurs.
To further evaluate how phenology and plant phenotypes vary among mile-a-minute populations, I conducted a greenhouse experiment. I grew mile-a-minute
plants from seeds of regional and local populations under varying environmental
conditions. I observed that mile-a-minute grew faster, larger, and was phenologically
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advanced under warmer, wetter, and sunnier conditions. However, mile-a-minute
survival and growth was still high under low resource conditions, and plants in low
resource conditions began to reproduce by the eighth week of the experiment. Seed
source was a significant predictor of growth and plant traits, indicating genetic
differences among populations and among seed collection times. Surprisingly,
differences among seed sources from the same populations collected at different times
were similar to differences among populations. Mile-a-minute is primed to continue
invading many habitats given its phenotypic plasticity and trait diversity produced by
sexual reproduction. Although typically found in sunny, high light edge
environments, mile-a-minute grows well in many environmental conditions, which
means it can continue to spread to new environments. Since mile-a-minute can
survive in low resource environments, land managers must survey deep into forests
near infestations for plants as they may potentially seed.
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